Heddles and methods for manufacturing them are known. Traditionally, they serve primarily for weaving yarns and wires. Particularly in more recent times, heddles have also been used for weaving tapes. The subject of the EP 1 795 636 B1, for example, is a heddle for tape-shaped warp yarn. The heddle shown there is optimized primarily for the production of industrial fabrics of the kind used, for example, in the manufacture of fibre composites.
The EP 1 795 636 B1 shows a heddle consisting substantially of two bands which are parallel to each other and spaced apart from each other.
Spacers and two rod-like components that form the thread eye are located in the gap between the bands. The spacers, but not the rod-like components forming the thread eye, are provided in part with fastening elements, each of which engages a recess in one of the bands. End loops are provided at both ends of the bands, and the heddle shown in the EP 1 795 636 B1 accordingly has four end loops. The aforementioned publication contains no detailed information concerning the manufacture of the heddles illustrated.
The heddle shown in the EP 1 795 636 B1 is optimized primarily for the production of industrial fabrics of the kind used, for example, in the manufacture of fibre composites. The price of the heddles used in the processing of expensive materials such as CRP yarn is of rather secondary importance.
However, particularly in industrial fields in which manufacturers are under greater pricing pressure than are manufacturers of fibre-composite components, further uses of heddles for the processing of tapes might arise. The manufacture of packaging from tape-like plastic materials, from which woven fabrics are formed, is one such field. For the manufacture of packaging materials of such kind—e.g. sacks—use is made primarily of circular looms.